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OnePlus One Equals the Best Smartphone You Can Buy for $300

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OnePlus One Review

The Smartphone Levels Up

The OnePlus One smartphone, made in China with limited availability overseas, hails itself as a "flagship killer." At $400 unlocked, the 5.5-inch phone has specs comparable to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8.

OnePlus Logo

OnePlus is less than a year old, but its One smartphone has the potential to disrupt the industry thanks to its good performance and relatively low price.

CyanogenMod On Board

OnePlus also partners with CyanogenMod to put its Android booster software on the OnePlus. Don't worry — it still has access to Google services.

Big Screen

The 1080p screen of the OnePlus One measures 5.5 inches.

Top View

The top of the phone has the headphone jack.

Bottom View

The bottom has the microUSB port and the speakers, which aren't that great.

Lock Screen

Here's the colorful default lock screen for the OnePlus One.

You'd be forgiven for scratching your head at the mention of the OnePlus One. Even once you've gotten past the admittedly confusing name, there's the not-inconsequential fact that OnePlus itself has only existed since December of last year — a grand total of six months, or the average lifespan of your garden-variety cricket (the insect, not the wireless carrier).

Even so, the Chinese company isn't going to let such inconvenient facts stand between it and global domination. OnePlus launched of the One back in April at event in San Francisco without a hint of humbleness, declaring the handset the "2014 flagship killer," a particularly brassy claim for a $299 unlocked phone. This week, the company announced the One would even get Android L, possibly sooner than most other phones.

Shockingly, with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 4K video-recording capabilities, the phone actually has the specs to back it up. More shockingly still: the phone is sitting on my desk as I type this. Which is to say, despite some unsurprising delays, the phone does actually exist.

One Look

OnePlus was truly intent on making a good first impression here. Accordingly, everything looks spiffy, right down to the red and white box the device ships in to the red ribbony USB cord and square wall adapter with rounded corners. I don't know that I've ever found myself complimenting a phone's USB cord before, but there you have it.

In fact, coming face to face with the whole package, the notion that the phone was delayed over a font change to the obligatory "CE mark" branding on the rear of the device seems less ridiculous (if only slightly).

Image: Mashable, Sarah Fisher

Once removed from the aforementioned lovely packing, it's clear that the phone itself is no slouch either. In this era of carbon-copy smartphones, the industrial design of the One is a breath of fresh air. It's a sleek and solid phone that has a lot more aesthetically in common with its HTC namesake than the plasticky Galaxy phones of the world.

The One is a thin 0.35 inch and weighs in at 5.7 ounces — pretty light for a 5.5-inch phone. That large Gorilla Glass display is nestled against a thin metal lip. The real aesthetic star, however, is actually the rear of the device. OnePlus is offering up a number of fairly unusual choices, from bamboo (real) to denim (real) to silk (not real).

Our unit came with a black sandstone backing (not real), a material that gives the phone a rock-solid but textured feel with an almost fabric-like quality that really feels nice in the hand. Time will tell how well the surface actually holds up to the dings and dents of day-to-day life, but so far so good.

At 1,920 x 1,080, the display is no slouch, either. On the 5.5-inch display, that translates to 401 pixels per inch (ppi), less dense than both the HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 (441 and 432, respectively), but still well ahead of the iPhone 5S (326). In any case, it makes for a rich viewing experience usually associated with far pricier handsets.

Inside, you'll find a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor — the same speed as on the Galaxy S5. That processing power is coupled with a generous 3GB of RAM, which is more than you'll get on the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 or iPhone 5S. And indeed, the phone performed admirably. Apps opened quickly and I didn't notice any lags even when we had a slew opened at once.

There's also a sizable 3,100 milliamp-hour (mAh) battery inside, which should get you through a day of use, no problem. Though be forewarned, unlike many of the phone's Android brethren, the battery isn't user-removable, even if you can manage the difficult task of prying off the backplate in the first place.

The base unit ships with 16GB of storage. You can also jump up to a 64GB model for an extra $50 — not a huge price to pay at the end of the day. Though it's worth noting that you can't actually expand the storage yourself, sadly. There's no microSD slot onboard, so if you think you'll fill up the base unit quickly, it's worth the added investment.

But while OnePlus largely stuck to its guns in regards to its "no comprises" approach to handset manufacturing, the One does come up short in a few respects on the hardware front. The 13-megapixel rear-facing camera performed decently, but is hardly a leader in the space, particularly in low-light situations. The night shots we took on the device turned out quite noisy.

On the upside, there phone ships with robust photo-editing software, but there's only so much you can do after a picture has been taken. If a great camera is a make-or-break feature for you, there are lots of stronger options out there. For the more casual smartphone picture-taker, the One should suffice.

The speakers — two small grilles positioned on either side of the microUSB port on the bottom of the phone — leave a bit to desired as well. I was able to get them up to a decent volume, but not without sacrificing sound quality. The little holes let out a muddy and tinny sound when raised to an audible volume, so maybe buy some headphones with the money you save on this handset.

Cyanogen-Flavored KitKat

There's another key pillar to add to OnePlus's mission statement, beyond premium hardware and an affordable price point: standing out from the crowd. After all, with so many high-profile phone makers out there making so many quality phones, how can a new kid on the block possibly compete? By, ahem, thinking different, of course.

For OnePlus, that means embracing CyanogenMod, that Android booster pack that got its start in the world of device rooting. Months before unveiling the One, OnePlus announced its partnership with software company. And while it's not the first phone to ship with the software preloaded — the Oppo N1 having beat it to the punch by half a year — such devices are still rare birds.

The One ships with CyanogenMod 11s, the latest version of the software, built on top of Android 4.4 KitKat, plus a few custom additions for OnePlus, as signified by the "s" at the end. And in case you had any doubts on the matter, there's a decently sized Cyanogen logo that takes up even more space on the rear of the device than then OnePlus icon. At startup, Cyanogen's hexagon logo spins in to greet you like the title screen of a film production company.

The differences are apparent even when the screen is off. A trio of gestures give you shortcuts to key features when the phone is asleep. Draw a circle and you'll boot to the camera app. Draw a "V" and the camera flash lights up for an instant flashlight, so you don't have to fumble around in the dark. There are also a handful of gestures for controlling the music.

The gestures are solid idea, though I will admit that I discovered them when I turned the flashlight on by accident. For the more clumsy out there, these can all be individually disabled in the settings to avoid inadvertent battery drain.

The real star of CyanogenMod, however, is customization. So, so much customization. While the major Android players attempt to set themselves apart with their own proprietary skins, Cyanogen lets you customize to your heart's content. You can either fiddle with things like fonts, wallpapers, sounds and icons in a piecemeal fashion or just pick up a new theme wholesale a la a Tumblr template, downloadable for free or for a small fee.

I went with the colorful (and free) Great Freedom theme. I'll probably change it tomorrow, just because I can.

There are a number of other nice touches here and there that add to the experience — there's are some bonus camera software features as mentioned above, a few additions to voice search and some additional security features.

Beyond the heavy level of customization, CyanogenMod likely won't make a huge difference in most user's lives, but that's one of the nice things about it — unlike some other Android add-ons out there, it doesn't really get in the way.

The Power of One

The OnePlus One is an extremely solid phone by most measures. There are some shortcomings here and there — the camera could use some work, ditto the speakers. Also, expandable storage and a removable battery would be nice. But even with those quibbles taken into account, the One is more than just a good phone; it's a statement on the state of the industry and a window of insight into a future where a brand-new phone manufacturer can take on the big guns less than a year into its existence. For under $300 no less.

Aside from a lack of name brand recognition, the biggest roadblock to success for the One is availability. U.S. carriers certainly aren't champing at the bit to embrace the first product by an unknown player, and at the moment, even the unlocked version is tough to get ahold of. Try to order one from OnePlus' site right now, and a window will let tell you that you need an invite to buy it.

It's no surprise that a product from a brand new company is having distribution issue. What is surprising is just how much OnePlus was able to get right.

OnePlus One

The Good

The Bad

Non-removable battery • No expandable storage • Limited availability

The Bottom Line

Only a few months into its existence, OnePlus promised smartphone buyers the stars. With its $299 unlocked price tag, premium hardware and highly customizable software, the company actually managed to deliver. But good luck getting your hands one for the moment, at least.

Correction: This review initially reported the price of the 16GB OnePlus One as $399, but it's actually $299.

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